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upworthy

childhood

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The Snow White she knew as a child is now a Fairy Godmother.

This article originally appeared on 01.11.19


Disney princesses are a magical thing, sometimes most of all for the princesses themselves.

Amber Shaddock Roberts used to visit Disneyland every year as a child. And from ages 2 to 15, she stopped to say hello and take pictures with the woman who was dressed as Snow White.

Amber Shaddock Roberts/Facebook

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Photo by Andrew Seaman on Unsplash

There are superheroes among us.

Disguised as ordinary moms and dads, members of this league of extraordinary parents change diapers, pack lunches, and tuck kids in at night just like the rest of us. But behind the scenes, they battle forces of darkness none of us can see.

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I was on a mission to buy sparkly blue eyeshadow with my babysitting money.  

I was in the sixth grade. I thought sparkly blue eyeshadow was cool. But most notably, nobody batted an eye at a 12-year-old babysitting or walking alone half a mile to the drug store.

Fast-forward 30 years and a totally typical scenario from my latchkey childhood feels risky — at least to some people.

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When I was 7, my best friend’s name was George.

He lived around the corner from me. George was tall and lanky. His elbows always akimbo, his cowlick stellar in its sheer verticality. He had an aquarium. He had a glow-in-the-dark board game. He had the 45 rpm of "Hang On, Sloopy," and he was a Harry Nilsson fan, just like me. I can still recall his house, and all of the luminous joy it held, perfectly in my mind's eye — all part of the frozen 7-year-old's mosaic that exploded into pieces when my parents' marriage failed.

After my parents split, George and I lived just an hour apart. But our parents weren't willing to ensure that George and I stayed in regular contact. Once or twice a year, we were allowed a sleepover, and George always came to spend the night on my birthday. His visit was the one gift I asked for.

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